The document analyzes digipaks of three metal albums: Metallica's 'St. Anger,' Black Sabbath's '13,' and Judas Priest's 'Rocka Rolla.' Each digipak is examined for its unique design elements, color schemes, and how they reflect the metal genre's characteristics. Key details include the use of striking imagery, branding choices without including band names, and the overall aesthetic continuity between album front and back covers.

1. Analyzing Digipaks of
the Metal Genre

2. What is a digipak?
A new format of CD packaging made of card, "digipak
editions" of CDs usually have extra tracks and are limited
edition.

3. Metallica – St.Anger

4. The front of Metallica’s St. Anger is quite
unique as compared to other metal genre
digipaks. This is mainly because of the colors
that have been used. Metal Genre normally has
very dark colors associated with it but this has
a bright orange and red color palette. This is
quite good as it makes the album stand out
amongst the others.
The front of the album has a bright red clenched fist with a rope tied to it as
if it is being restrained. The clenched fist shows off anger and rage which is
normally associated with Metal. The Red color can also be taken as the color
of blood which is another thing related to metal. The orange back ground
with the bright red fist is something that really catches your eye. On the
bottom right is a parental advisory which says ‘explicit content’ and has
been put there to make people aware that the contents of this album are not
suitable for children. There is no mention of the album name or the name of
the band which also makes one curious about who’s album this is. Metallica
the band has a lot of recognition world wide that maybe they just don’t
require that their name be on the album.

5. On the back of the Album there is a big
red skull with the same rope around its
neck as the one which restrained the
clenched fist on the front. This shows
continuity in the album. There is a
purplish grey color in the background
which helps the bright red skull stand
out. On the back there are the names of
the songs written in order in a demonic
type of font. On the side we see the name
of the band, album and the name of the
record company.
On the bottom right is a barcode on top of which is the band’s website
where people can get more details of the band. On the left of the barcode is
the logo of the record company. The name of the producer which helped
Metallica make this album has also been mentioned under the songs list.
Over all the front and the back do give a lot of metal feel to the album with
the font, color scheme and the album art.

6. The inside of the album features the main logo of Metallica the band with the
name of the album mentioned underneath it. It has two slots for CD’s one is in
the centre where the CD slides in while the other is a Jewel Case where the CD
is fixed. The Centre slot of the cover is for the main soundtrack and the jewel
case is for the Bonus DVD.
Behind the Jewel Case are pictures which show a lot of metal elements such as
tombstones, a figure dressed in black clothes and a hand holding a bleeding
heart.

7. The inside of the cover also features a slot (Left) where there is a
booklet which includes the song lyrics. The slot and the booklet
both feature the same image of an angel like figure who is
restrained in a cloth.
On the right you can see the rest of the skull which also has the
same rope around its neck and has the same clenched fist which
was on the front cover but instead it is in the orange instead of
red.

8. The Booklet

9. This is the main CD which features the soundtrack. It has the same
Clenched fist as the one on the main cover but the color theme is
different and this one is in grey and black. The CD also has the
Metallica logo with the album name and the list of the soundtrack.

10. Black Sabbath -13

11. The front of Black Sabbath’s album 13 gives
you a really dark metal feel talking in terms
of colors first. Metal genre is known to be
associated with dark color themes and so this
is one stereotype that fits here in this digipak.
Apart from the color theme we see a big
number 13 made of wood on fire and fire is
something that is related to rage and
aggression again something which is quite
related to the metal genre. This album
artwork although looks to be painted or
digitally created is actually a picture taken of
a 8 foot tall number 13 created for this album
in the England country side and was later
edited on a computer.
The background has a very greenish grey dark view of the country side and over all
the cover does represent something dark or something ‘metal’. The name of the
band is written on the top of the main cover in a very simple yet demonic kind of
font and this is not the original logo of the band either. On the bottom left of the
cover there is a brief detail mentioned about the album that it is a deluxe version
and that it contains a few bonus tracks. Underneath the detail there is a number
which is most probably the serial number of the album.

12. The back of the album is quite simple as compared to the front. Here we have a
dimmer view of the country side in the background but the number 13 has not been
used here. On the right centre you can see the album name mentioned with the name
of the band but in a very small font which is the same one used to write the name of
the band on the front. In the centre of the back cover the sound track has been listed.
The font used to list down the soundtrack is quite similar to the one used to write the
band name on the front but you can spot that
it is in fact not the same for example the
letter ‘A’ is different in the list and different
in the band’s name. Maybe they used this
letter different to bring more significance in
the band name. Underneath the soundtrack
list there is a barcode and next to it is a small
logo of the record company who released the
album. Underneath the barcode there is a
disclaimer that the rights to use the content
of this album lie with the band and the record
company. Along side this there is the band’s
website as well. Both of these things are
written in very small font.

13. This the combined view of the front and back.

14. This is the inside of the album where
the CD slot can be seen. The
background has the same picture of
the 13 which was on the front cover of
the album. However over here either
the paper used inside is of low quality
or a dimmer picture has been used.
You can clearly see the slot where the
CD slides in either this is the slot for
both CD’s or the other slot is not
shown in this picture.
Both the CD’s have the same visual art
printed on them. The color scheme of
the CD is quite different from the rest
of the album cover as the colors are in
comparison more brighter then the
rest of the colors of the cover.

15. This is the booklet that’s included in the album cover as well. The
front and back of the booklet is a long image of the country side
with the front being the same image as the one on the front of the
album cover. However just like the inside of the album the image is
a little dim.

16. This is the inside of the booklet which
includes the lyrics of the songs and pictures
of the recording sessions.

17. Judas Priest – Rocka Rolla

18. The front of the album is quite unique and
different from most of the metal albums that I
have researched on. Just like Metallica’s St.
Anger, this album has some elements that do
represent metal but some elements do go
against the codes and conventions of the
metal genre. For example the main cover has
a very bright color theme which you would not
normally associate with the metal genre but
this is good in the fact that it makes the album
quite unique. However the image that is on
the front does bring a few elements of metal
to the album. For example the image is of a demonic creature who has some sort
of flying mechanism on its back with a sword in one hand and a warhead in the
other. The demonic creature can be associated with metal as the genre is often
linked by some to satanic and demonic creatures, the sword and the warhead
represent violence and rage which are also associated to the metal genre. On the
top of the album cover the name of the band is written in an old Shakespearean
type of font and is different from the font that is normally used to write the name
of the band. On the bottom centre of the cover the name of the album is written in
a very simple font.

19. The back of the album is very plain and simple as compared to the other two albums
that I have analyzed. The background is plain black with the text written in a white
font. In the centre the soundtrack is listed along with the length of the songs and is
written in a very simple white font. On the right of the list is the barcode. Above the
barcode is the logo of the compact disc which has been put there to tell the consumers
that the disc is a CD and not a DVD, VCD etc.
Below the list the name of the producers along with the name of the record company
have been mentioned. On the extreme right and left you can see the name of the band
mentioned alongside the name of the album.

20. The inside of the album is the same as the back cover. Only the barcode
and the CD logo with the name of the band and album have been removed.

21. The CD is quite simple with the initials of the Radio Corporation of America
at the top and the name of the album and band on the left side with the the
soundtrack list on the centre bottom of the compact disc.